Comments on: Harmony- the “Universal Value” of Culture http://chinadigitaltimes.net/2008/11/harmony-the-universal-value-of-culture/ Watching China Politics from Cyberspace Sat, 26 May 2012 19:19:18 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Ben Rosshttp://chinadigitaltimes.net/2008/11/harmony-the-universal-value-of-culture/#comment-4856 Ben Ross Fri, 14 Nov 2008 05:41:11 +0000 http://chinadigitaltimes.net/?p=27655#comment-4856 I've always likened the Chinese concept of "harmony" to "liberty" in American lore. It's one of those terms that's easy to understand, sounds undisputedly positive, and means absolutely nothing. "Harmony" like "liberty" has a definition broad enough that it has historically included such benevolent aspects of society as slavery, mass disenfranchisement, and wide scale corruption. It's just another way governments use rhetoric to distract the public. They do it in China. They do it in the West. And probably everywhere else in between. It's Newspeak, basically.My 2 mao I’ve always likened the Chinese concept of “harmony” to “liberty” in American lore. It’s one of those terms that’s easy to understand, sounds undisputedly positive, and means absolutely nothing. “Harmony” like “liberty” has a definition broad enough that it has historically included such benevolent aspects of society as slavery, mass disenfranchisement, and wide scale corruption. It’s just another way governments use rhetoric to distract the public. They do it in China. They do it in the West. And probably everywhere else in between. It’s Newspeak, basically.

My 2 mao

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